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Revised
Standard Version of the Holy Bible

1
Corinthians Chapter 1 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 1
1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus,
and our brother Sos'thenes,
2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in
Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every
place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
4 I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God
which was given you in Christ Jesus,
5 that in every way you were enriched in him with all speech and all
knowledge --
6 even as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you --
7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for
the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ;
8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his
Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that
you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
11 For it has been reported to me by Chlo'e's people that there is
quarreling among you, my brethren.
12 What I mean is that each one of you says, "I belong to
Paul," or "I belong to Apol'los," or "I belong to
Cephas," or "I belong to Christ."
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you
baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and
Ga'ius;
15 lest any one should say that you were baptized in my name.
16 (I did baptize also the household of Steph'anas. Beyond that, I do
not know whether I baptized any one else.)
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel,
and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its
power.
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but
to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart."
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater
of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God
through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save
those who believe.
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and
folly to Gentiles,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of
God is stronger than men.
26 For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise
according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of
noble birth;
27 but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God
chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong,
28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that
are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our
wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption;
31 therefore, as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast of
the Lord."
1
Corinthians Chapter 2 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 2
1 When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the
testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom.
2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him
crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness and in much fear and trembling;
4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom,
but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the
power of God.
6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a
wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass
away.
7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed
before the ages for our glorification.
8 None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love
him,"
10 God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches
everything, even the depths of God.
11 For what person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the
man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except
the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit
which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by
God.
13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught
by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the
Spirit.
14 The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of
God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them
because they are spiritually discerned.
15 The spiritual man judges all things, but is himself to be judged
by no one.
16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct
him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
1
Corinthians Chapter 3 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 3
1 But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men
of the flesh, as babes in Christ.
2 I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it;
and even yet you are not ready,
3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and
strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary
men?
4 For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another,
"I belong to Apol'los," are you not merely men?
5 What then is Apol'los? What is Paul? Servants through whom you
believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
6 I planted, Apol'los watered, but God gave the growth.
7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only
God who gives the growth.
8 He who plants and he who waters are equal, and each shall receive
his wages according to his labor.
9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's
building.
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master
builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each
man take care how he builds upon it.
11 For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid,
which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, straw --
13 each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose
it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what
sort of work each one has done.
14 If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he
will receive a reward.
15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he
himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit
dwells in you?
17 If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's
temple is holy, and that temple you are.
18 Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you thinks that he is
wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written,
"He catches the wise in their craftiness,"
20 and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are
futile."
21 So let no one boast of men. For all things are yours,
22 whether Paul or Apol'los or Cephas or the world or life or death
or the present or the future, all are yours;
23 and you are Christ's; and Christ is God's.
1
Corinthians Chapter 4 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 4
1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and
stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.
3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you
or by any human court. I do not even judge myself.
4 I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby
acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.
5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the
Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and
will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then every man will receive his
commendation from God.
6 I have applied all this to myself and Apol'los for your benefit,
brethren, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that
none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.
7 For who sees anything different in you? What have you that you did
not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a
gift?
8 Already you are filled! Already you have become rich! Without us
you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might
share the rule with you!
9 For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like
men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world,
to angels and to men.
10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are
weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute.
11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and
buffeted and homeless,
12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless;
when persecuted, we endure;
13 when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now,
as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things.
14 I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my
beloved children.
15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have
many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me.
17 Therefore I sent to you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in
the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere
in every church.
18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.
19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find
out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power.
20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in
a spirit of gentleness?
1
Corinthians Chapter 5 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 5
1 It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and of
a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his
father's wife.
2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who
has done this be removed from among you.
3 For though absent in body I am present in spirit, and as if
present, I have already pronounced judgment
4 in the name of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a thing.
When you are assembled, and my spirit is present, with the power of our
Lord Jesus,
5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the
flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven
leavens the whole lump?
7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you
really are unleavened. For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed.
8 Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven,
the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth.
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral men;
10 not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and
robbers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
11 But rather I wrote to you not to associate with any one who bears
the name of brother if he is guilty of immorality or greed, or is an
idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber -- not even to eat with such a one.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those
inside the church whom you are to judge?
13 God judges those outside. "Drive out the wicked person from
among you."
1
Corinthians Chapter 6 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 6
1 When one of you has a grievance against a brother, does he dare go
to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?
2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the
world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?
3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, matters
pertaining to this life!
4 If then you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who
are least esteemed by the church?
5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no man among you
wise enough to decide between members of the brotherhood,
6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before
unbelievers?
7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is defeat for you. Why not
rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?
8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud, and that even your own
brethren.
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom
of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor sexual perverts,
10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were
sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in
the Spirit of our God.
12 "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are
helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be
enslaved by anything.
13 "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"
-- and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for
immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I
therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a
prostitute? Never!
16 Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes
one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two shall become one
flesh."
17 But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
18 Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside
the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body.
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit
within you, which you have from God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1
Corinthians Chapter 7 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 7
1 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote. It is well for a
man not to touch a woman.
2 But because of the temptation to immorality, each man should have
his own wife and each woman her own husband.
3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and
likewise the wife to her husband.
4 For the wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband does;
likewise the husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife does.
5 Do not refuse one another except perhaps by agreement for a season,
that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again,
lest Satan tempt you through lack of self-control.
6 I say this by way of concession, not of command.
7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own special
gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to
remain single as I do.
9 But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it
is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.
10 To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife
should not separate from her husband
11 (but if she does, let her remain single or else be reconciled to
her husband) -- and that the husband should not divorce his wife.
12 To the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife
who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not
divorce her.
13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents
to live with her, she should not divorce him.
14 For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and
the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband. Otherwise, your
children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy.
15 But if the unbelieving partner desires to separate, let it be so;
in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. For God has called us
to peace.
16 Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband,
how do you know whether you will save your wife?
17 Only, let every one lead the life which the Lord has assigned to
him, and in which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.
18 Was any one at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him
not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was any one at the time of
his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision.
19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision,
but keeping the commandments of God.
20 Every one should remain in the state in which he was called.
21 Were you a slave when called? Never mind. But if you can gain your
freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.
22 For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the
Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ.
23 You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.
24 So, brethren, in whatever state each was called, there let him
remain with God.
25 Now concerning the unmarried, I have no command of the Lord, but I
give my opinion as one who by the LORD’S mercy is trustworthy.
26 I think that in view of the present distress it is well for a
person to remain as he is.
27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from
a wife? Do not seek marriage.
28 But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a girl marries she does
not sin. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare
you that.
29 I mean, brethren, the appointed time has grown very short; from
now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none,
30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those
who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though
they had no goods,
31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings
with it. For the form of this world is passing away.
32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious
about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord;
33 but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to
please his wife,
34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or girl is
anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit;
but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her
husband.
35 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon
you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to
the Lord.
36 If any one thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his
betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he
wishes let them marry -- it is no sin.
37 But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no
necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in
his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well.
38 So that he who marries his betrothed does well; and he who
refrains from marriage will do better.
39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If the husband
dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
40 But in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I
think that I have the Spirit of God.
1
Corinthians Chapter 8 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 8
1 Now concerning food offered to idols we know that "all of
us possess knowledge." "Knowledge" puffs up, but love
builds up.
2 If any one imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know
as he ought to know.
3 But if one loves God, one is known by him.
4 Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that
"an idol has no real existence," and that "there is no God
but one."
5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth --
as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords" --
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things
and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all
things and through whom we exist.
7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through being
hitherto accustomed to idols, eat food as really offered to an idol; and
their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not
eat, and no better off if we do.
9 Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a
stumbling block to the weak.
10 For if any one sees you, a man of knowledge, at table in an idol's
temple, might he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food
offered to idols?
11 And so by your knowledge this weak man is destroyed, the brother
for whom Christ died.
12 Thus, sinning against your brethren and wounding their conscience
when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
13 Therefore, if food is a cause of my brother's falling, I will
never eat meat, lest I cause my brother to fall.
1
Corinthians Chapter 9 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 9
1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?
Are not you my workmanship in the Lord?
2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are
the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 This is my defense to those who would examine me.
4 Do we not have the right to our food and drink?
5 Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife, as the other
apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?
6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from
working for a living?
7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard
without eating any of its fruit? Who tends a flock without getting some of
the milk?
8 Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law say the same?
9 For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle
an ox when it is treading out the grain." Is it for oxen that God is
concerned?
10 Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our
sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in
hope of a share in the crop.
11 If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we
reap your material benefits?
12 If others share this rightful claim upon you, do not we still
more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure
anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.
13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service
get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in
the sacrificial offerings?
14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the
gospel should get their living by the gospel.
15 But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing
this to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have any
one deprive me of my ground for boasting.
16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting.
For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my
own will, I am entrusted with a commission.
18 What then is my reward? Just this that in my preaching I may
make the gospel free of charge, not making full use of my right in the
gospel.
19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to
all, that I might win the more.
20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews; to those
under the law I became as one under the law -- though not being myself
under the law -- that I might win those under the law.
21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law -- not
being without law toward God but under the law of Christ -- that I might
win those outside the law.
22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have
become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its
blessings.
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only
one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to
receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
26 Well, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air;
27 but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others
I myself should be disqualified.
1
Corinthians Chapter 10 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 10
1 I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the
cloud, and all passed through the sea,
2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
3 and all ate the same supernatural food
4 and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the
supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
5 Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were
overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things are warnings for us, not to desire evil as they
did.
7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written,
"The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to dance."
8 We must not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and
twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.
9 We must not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did and were
destroyed by serpents;
10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the
Destroyer.
11 Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were
written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come.
12 Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he
fall.
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is
faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but
with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be
able to endure it.
14 Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols.
15 I speak as to sensible men; judge for yourselves what I say.
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in
the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation
in the body of Christ?
17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we
all partake of the one bread.
18 Consider the people of Israel; are not those who eat the
sacrifices partners in the altar?
19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or
that an idol is anything?
20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and
not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons.
21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You
cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
23 "All things are lawful," but not all things are helpful.
"All things are lawful," but not all things build up.
24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.
25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any
question on the ground of conscience.
26 For "the earth is the LORD’S, and everything in it."
27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are
disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any
question on the ground of conscience.
28 (But if some one says to you, "This has been offered in
sacrifice," then out of consideration for the man who informed you,
and for conscience' sake --
29 I mean his conscience, not yours -- do not eat it.) For why should
my liberty be determined by another man's scruples?
30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that
for which I give thanks?
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the
glory of God.
32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God,
33 just as I try to please all men in everything I do, not seeking my
own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.
1
Corinthians Chapter 11 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 11
1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
2 I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain
the traditions even as I have delivered them to you.
3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ,
the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.
4 Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his
head,
5 but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled
dishonors her head -- it is the same as if her head were shaven.
6 For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her
hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her
wear a veil.
7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and
glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.
8 (For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.
9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.)
10 That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of
the angels.
11 (Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man
of woman;
12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And
all things are from God.)
13 Judge for yourselves; is it proper for a woman to pray to God with
her head uncovered?
14 Does not nature itself teach you that for a man to wear long hair
is degrading to him,
15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her pride? For her hair is
given to her for a covering.
16 If any one is disposed to be contentious, we recognize no other
practice, nor do the churches of God.
17 But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because
when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.
18 For, in the first place, when you assemble as a church, I hear
that there are divisions among you; and I partly believe it,
19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are
genuine among you may be recognized.
20 When you meet together, it is not the LORD’S supper that you
eat.
21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal, and one is
hungry and another is drunk.
22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you
despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall
I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that
the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is
my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
25 In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup
is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in
remembrance of me."
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim
the LORD’S death until he comes.
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord
in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of
the Lord.
28 Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of
the cup.
29 For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats
and drinks judgment upon himself.
30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we
may not be condemned along with the world.
33 So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one
another --
34 if any one is hungry, let him eat at home -- lest you come
together to be condemned. About the other things I will give directions
when I come.
1
Corinthians Chapter 12 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 12
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be
uninformed.
2 You know that when you were heathen, you were led astray to dumb
idols, however you may have been moved.
3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the
Spirit of God ever says "Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say
"Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
6 and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who
inspires them all in every one.
7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common
good.
8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to
another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by
the one Spirit,
10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to
another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various
kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
11 All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions
to each one individually as he wills.
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the
members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- Jews or
Greeks, slaves or free -- and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not
belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the
body.
16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not
belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the
body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the
whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
18 But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of
them, as he chose.
19 If all were a single organ, where would the body be?
20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you,"
nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
22 On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are
indispensable,
23 and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we
invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated
with greater modesty,
24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so
composed the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part,
25 that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may
have the same care for one another.
26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is
honored, all rejoice together.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second
prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers,
administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work
miracles?
30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all
interpret?
31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still
more excellent way.
1
Corinthians Chapter 13 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 13
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but
have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned,
but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;
5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it
is not irritable or resentful;
6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things.
8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for
tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;
10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I
know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully
understood.
13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these
is love.
1
Corinthians Chapter 14 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 14
1 Make love your aim, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts,
especially that you may prophesy.
2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no
one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.
3 On the other hand, he who prophesies speaks to men for their
upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies
edifies the church.
5 Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy.
He who prophesies is greater than he who speaks in tongues, unless some
one interprets, so that the church may be edified.
6 Now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how shall I
benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or
teaching?
7 If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not
give distinct notes, how will any one know what is played?
8 And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for
battle?
9 So with yourselves; if you in a tongue utter speech that is not
intelligible, how will any one know what is said? For you will be speaking
into the air.
10 There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and
none is without meaning;
11 but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a
foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.
12 So with yourselves; since you are eager for manifestations of the
Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.
13 Therefore, he who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to
interpret.
14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is
unfruitful.
15 What am I to do? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with
the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind
also.
16 Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how can any one in the
position of an outsider say the "Amen" to your thanksgiving when
he does not know what you are saying?
17 For you may give thanks well enough, but the other man is not
edified.
18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all;
19 nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my
mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
20 Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; be babes in evil,
but in thinking be mature.
21 In the law it is written, "By men of strange tongues and by
the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they
will not listen to me, says the Lord."
22 Thus, tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers,
while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.
23 If, therefore, the whole church assembles and all speak in
tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you
are mad?
24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is
convicted by all, he is called to account by all,
25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so, falling on his
face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
26 What then, brethren? When you come together, each one has a hymn,
a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be
done for edification.
27 If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three,
and each in turn; and let one interpret.
28 But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silence
in church and speak to himself and to God.
29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is
said.
30 If a revelation is made to another sitting by, let the first be
silent.
31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all
be encouraged;
32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.
33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the
churches of the saints,
34 the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not
permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says.
35 If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their
husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
36 What! Did the word of God originate with you, or are you the only
ones it has reached?
37 If any one thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should
acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord.
38 If any one does not recognize this, he is not recognized.
39 So, my brethren, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid
speaking in tongues;
40 but all things should be done decently and in order.
1
Corinthians Chapter 15 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 15
1 Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you
the gospel, which you received, in which you stand,
2 by which you are saved, if you hold it fast -- unless you believed
in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in
accordance with the scriptures,
5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time,
most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me
was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though
it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me.
11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
12 Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of
you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not
been raised;
14 if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and
your faith is in vain.
15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified
of God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the
dead are not raised.
16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised.
17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are
still in your sins.
18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19 If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men
most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits
of those who have fallen asleep.
21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the
resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But each in his own order Christ the first fruits, then at
his coming those who belong to Christ.
24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father
after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
27 "For God has put all things in subjection under his
feet." But when it says, "All things are put in subjection under
him," it is plain that he is excepted who put all things under him.
28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will
also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be
everything to every one.
29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the
dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their
behalf?
30 Why am I in peril every hour?
31 I protest, brethren, by my pride in you which I have in Christ
Jesus our Lord, I die every day!
32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at
Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for
tomorrow we die."
33 Do not be deceived "Bad company ruins good morals."
34 Come to your right mind, and sin no more. For some have no
knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
35 But some one will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what
kind of body do they come?"
36 You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it
dies.
37 And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare
kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.
38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed
its own body.
39 For not all flesh is alike, but there is one kind for men, another
for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
40 There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies; but
the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is
another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and
another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is
perishable, what is raised is imperishable.
43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in
weakness, it is raised in power.
44 It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If
there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.
45 Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living
being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
46 But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and
then the spiritual.
47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is
from heaven.
48 As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as
is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.
49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also
bear the image of the man of heaven.
50 I tell you this, brethren flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all
be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For
the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we
shall be changed.
53 For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this
mortal nature must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts
on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written "Death
is swallowed up in victory."
55 "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy
sting?"
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is
not in vain.
1
Corinthians Chapter 16 (Revised Standard Version)
1 Corinthians 16
1 Now concerning the contribution for the saints as I directed
the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.
2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something
aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that contributions need not
be made when I come.
3 And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to
carry your gift to Jerusalem.
4 If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany
me.
5 I will visit you after passing through Macedo'nia, for I intend to
pass through Macedo'nia,
6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that
you may speed me on my journey, wherever I go.
7 For I do not want to see you now just in passing; I hope to spend
some time with you, if the Lord permits.
8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,
9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are
many adversaries.
10 When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he
is doing the work of the Lord, as I am.
11 So let no one despise him. Speed him on his way in peace, that he
may return to me; for I am expecting him with the brethren.
12 As for our brother Apol'los, I strongly urged him to visit you
with the other brethren, but it was not at all his will to come now. He
will come when he has opportunity.
13 Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.
14 Let all that you do be done in love.
15 Now, brethren, you know that the household of Steph'anas were the
first converts in Acha'ia, and they have devoted themselves to the service
of the saints;
16 I urge you to be subject to such men and to every fellow worker
and laborer.
17 I rejoice at the coming of Steph'anas and Fortuna'tus and
Acha'icus, because they have made up for your absence;
18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to
such men.
19 The churches of Asia send greetings. Aq'uila and Prisca, together
with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord.
20 All the brethren send greetings. Greet one another with a holy
kiss.
21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
22 If any one has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our
Lord, come!
23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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